Project MOVE

I made an "obstacle course" for Phin with his toys. Then I let him go.
WATCH and see what happens.
I am scared!

Phin's new swing!

Happy Birthday Grandma Susie!

Phin wanted in on Grandma's Fiesta Birthday Picture!


How nice that Daddy was willing to share his fiesta hat with Phin!

Grandma and Mommy had our hats too!

Inside

The Grandparents Allen!!!

Dan was very excited to ride Grandmother Allen's bike (after Great Grandpa Allen rode it.) Phin did NOT ride the bike - although he did pose for a picture or two...


Dan also showed Phin a little about safety with the helmet!


Phin also posed with the musical frogs (with Daddy's help.)


We also got a new (4) generation picture of the Allen/Routier family.

Phin's Easter Day

included a playdate!
Phin's friend, Mayah, came over for lunch and even brought an Easter Basket for my boy! It's funny to watch the two babies together. Phin just wants to watch and maybe touch her a little bit. Mayah looks back at Phin with a little bit of concern in her eyes - as he's so much BIGGER than she is!
We had burgers on the grill and a nice salad, of course.



Phin was quite excited by his Easter basket. Mostly, he wanted to EAT IT! :)

Phin's 8 months old today

and we are breaking out the 18month old clothes. I think we should stop calling him "Phin" and call him "Moose" instead!

Phin's Cheer-I-O-s

Additionally, this was Phin's first try at the Cheerios. I decided that he needs to be able to start working on self feeding. He hasn't has a chance to put food in his own mouth lately - besides a rogue bottle here and there. The Pediatrician said he should not have fruit until he's able to pick it up and eat it himself. SO, before apples (that's a joke) comes a cheerio!











Feeding by Daddy, video by Mommy!

Drinkin'

Phin's Big Day

This is a picture of Phin and Mommy!
Phin had a good morning hanging with Daddy while Mommy went out to hunt (deals) and gather (produce) at the local supermarket!


Mid-day, Phin wrapped himself up in his play pad! We love our silly boy!


In the evening, Mommy gave Phin his first "Trainer cup." He knew what to do with it straight away! Phin sipped while reclining on Daddy!

Phin's first trip to the violin shop!

While I was pregnant with Phin, I was getting (exercise induced) asthma when I would try to make my way onto campus for my violin lessons. I had to then stop the lessons because of my inability to breathe. THEN, I had a new born and I didn't have the time to practice. Now, Phin is seven months old and I am ready to pick up my instrument again - but it's seriously out of tune. It's so seriously out of tune, I am afraid to try to do it myself.
SO, on our way to the farm, we stopped at the violin shop and they tuned my violin for me! It was Phin's first time to visit the violin shop. Hopefully, in a few years, we will be returning - to find a nice little (1/4) rental for him to play too! :)

Faces of Phin:

Phin's First Orchid Show

I got a flier from the Orchid Society - stating that this weekend was the Orchid Show.
While I was pregnant with Phin, I had to give up my orchid hobby (as we needed a room for a nursery). It worked out well though, I donated the orchids to my Orchid Society - and they were divided between knowledgeable orchid enthusiasts - where I knew the orchids would continue to grow in wonderful environments and be safe.
Well, while I can't keep any orchids in the house anymore, I did think it would be alright to take Phin to his First Orchid Show yesterday.

I got myself and Phin dressed and we snapped a couple of shots before we left for the Garden Center. The orchid society could NOT have picked a better weekend. As it turned out, I was dressed too warm for the event! Phin slept through the whole thing - which was fine. He IS a little boy...

SEVEN

I love Tivo. With tivo, you tell the little box what things you want it to record and it just does it. I don't have to look up channels, times, days... tivo takes care of everything. When I am watching something on tivo, I can just fast forward through the advertisements and go right on to the rest of the program - saving time and my sanity! If I miss something on tivo, all I have to do is rewind and catch up. If I need to leave the room, I can put it on pause (for up to thirty minutes) and then it will start playing again on it's own. Sometimes I forget that tivo is just for the TV. When I am in the car listening to the radio and miss a date or place on an add and want to hit the rewind button on the tivo - but oh, this is radio so I can't.

I WISH tivo was a part of every day life. If it was, I would rewind for the last thirty minutes (maybe 'days' in tivo land) and then push the pause button. As it turns out, Phin is seven SEVEN months old and I just want to yell "STOP"! I need some catch up time!

Phin is doing cyclone rolling throughout the house. Phin is trying to crawl and is mimicking walking in his tot-rider. Phin is rolling here and there to move toward what he wants and away from what he doesn't. Phin knows that when we are in the car, it's "his time" to talk in long rambling sentences/(baby babble). He knows that when food on a spoon is headed toward his mouth, all he has to do is purse his lips together to keep said food out. All of these things are happening too quickly and I just need things to slow down a bit.

Phin is now teething as well. The teeth are not yet coming through, but he's in pain and he's chewing the all get out of my fingers, his fingers, his toys etc.

The fact that he's moving and rolling and playing and even teething - these are all GREAT THINGS. These things are happening as God intended. These things are the natural progression of growth and development and for that, I am grateful. I just, want to hold him in my arms when it's his nap time and bed time - because I know soon enough (too soon for me) Phin will be off on his own two feet and my baby will be a boy.

I guess I have just never had an opportunity to feel joy for progress and pain for the loss of dependence on me - all at the same time. This is the point when I have to suck it up and look towards the smile in my heart and say "grow Phin grow!"

Phin's shorts set

I usually go to the discount outlet and buy things on clearance with coupons for Phin's clothing. The other stuff, I try to make for him. My plan is to try to make him shorts for summer because, really, how hard can shorts be?
The last time we went to the outlet mall, I did "splurge" and buy him something that was not on clearance - and instead only on "discount."
It was this shorts outfit and it WON because - - - you guessed it! The elephant on the front!

So, today it was over seventy degrees outside and Phin wore his shorts. The biggest reason is because Phin needs to be making vitamin D. Phin needs approx 20 min. of sunlight to make that vitamin D. So, instead of his wearing fleece footed jammies, we put on those cute shorts and T-shirt and went outside!

So, I took Phin's exer-saucer outside and grabbed Maggie's tennis ball thrower and Phin and I went outside to play. Phin was very excited about watching Maggie run away and come back again. As you can see below - I am unable to get his attention for the picture because he's watching Maggie.








After a bit of time outside (we didn't spend the whole twenty - I believe he has to "work up to it" as he seems to have my fair skin tone) we came in and he played on the floor. :)

Baby Gate - Installed!

Phin is a cyclone.
I had ordered the baby gate online and was just waiting for it to appear.
In the meantime, Phin started rolling and rolling - making his way over to the staircase (never out of my view though) and I would move him back away to a safer region of the house.
Well, the gate is here and installed. It's actually really great! It has a remote control so when I have my hands full of baby and bags and STUFF, I can hit the button and it opens up for me to pass though. You do have to manually swing it closed again - but the ease of not having to jack with the child-proof opening has been HEAVEN!

This is just a picture of Phin - playing with Daddy's feet - off of his blanket where he was put down...

65 degrees today!~

Since it was warm and since my baby is growing so quickly, I decided that TODAY was the day. Since it was "warmer" out, I put Phin's overall shorts on him. He will never be able to wear them again, but see, when I bought them, he was a newborn. I was looking at the shorts and thinking that nine months from his birthday would be MAY which would be a fine time to start wearing overall shorts...








Somehow, this pose reminds me of Conan OBrien!

Phin's first food!

organic carrots - made by Mama...

Today was the day...

I took a picture of him this morning - looking cute in his little outfit.

Then later in the day, he was playing on the floor as I worked on dinner.
I looked at him and what did I see?
Belly time?
Very carefully, I grabbed my camera and grabbed a shot and what did he do?

He tried it hide it away - like the baby bullhead we created!

But once he knew I knew, we went back to his belly to play for a bit.

SIX

Today, I woman guessed how old my baby was. Her guess was 10months. I told her, my baby is six months old today. I then came home and straightened his closet. I took all of his newborn, 3 month, 6 month and 9 month clothes and put them into a storage saver bag. It took an XXL bag that is full to the top!
It’s been interesting because this month, Phin’s friend “Mayah” was born. She is currently about the size Phin was when he was born. The last time we visited the family, we saw Mayah’s little tiny baby feet peek out from her blanket. It was breath taking – not only because they are Mayah’s feet… but also because just six months ago Phin’s feet looked just like that. HOW is it possible that in just six months time Phin has moved from newborn clothing to 12 month clothing? HOW is that possible?
Over the last month, I have truly enjoyed watching Phin grow – mentally. In the last four weeks, he has started rolling over from tummy to back. Now, he still refuses to go back to his tummy but we hope that will change in time. ☺ There are other things though. Phin is very interested in food. He knows where his food comes from and he’s gone to “self serve” mode which is funny because I remember how it was an hour long battle (in the beginning) to get twenty minutes of feeding out of him. I remember one morning after my mom had left I was unable to wake Phin up to eat. He was physically fine (breathing etc), but he was simply not interested in waking up to eat. The doctor had told us that he should eat every three hours and so I was beside myself with what I should do. I called my mom in TEARS asking her what I should do. She was scared he was unresponsiveness or not breathing when I said I couldn’t wake him up – but after she understood the problem she assured me that it was fine and when my baby was hungry, he would let me know. She was, of course, right. But, I digress. Phin’s new obsession with food is actually with Daddy’s food. Phin watches it in Daddy’s hand or on Daddy’s fork and then it goes to Daddy’s mouth and then it disappears! I watch the confusion on his face over and over as this disappearing food/drink happens. He has also started to notice things. Looking over my shoulder as we walk down the hall – watching Maggie walking behind us…
Everyone who watches this blog has seen his rocking on his standing machine…
Yesterday was a great day. It was in the upper 60’s, lower 70’s and it was Phin’s first day to spend some time outside. I showed him how we get the mail. We looked at our yard and also we sat on the deck. We sat on steps that were in the shade and he even took the initiative to lay on his belly on the deck to feel the wood. I let him do it until I noticed that his clothes were getting DIRTY and I immediately picked him up and brushed him off. Daddy says “Let him be a boy” and I will! But right now, he’s still a BABY!
And this, this was Phin’s big 6month surprise: Great Grandpa and Grandma came to visit! See the pictures and video below.